1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a hair care composition containing an inorganic fluoride for straightening, smoothing, defrizzing, curling and/or relaxing of hair, and its method of use in a variety of hair care products, e.g., straightener solution, shampoo, conditioner, hair color binding treatment, hair volumizing treatment, combinations thereof, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
During the past few years, there has been a growing trend in the market for semi-permanent curl reduction and change in the configuration of hair with minimum hair damage. These products affect the style configuration of hair with discernible curl reduction and easiness of styling attributes including shine, luster, smoothness, volume reduction, and feel of hair.
Conventional techniques for temporary smoothing and removing curls have been by applying pomades on hair, followed by combing with uncontrollable hot, heated metal combs. These techniques have many serious drawbacks, including scalp burning and hair damage from excessive heat.
Recently, improvements have been made to conventional techniques for smoothing and straightening hair that use controllable flat irons and curling irons. However, the straightening and smoothing effects on hair by these improved methods are only temporary, and total reversion occurs when the person perspires, or is exposed to high humidity, and especially after a single shampoo.
The technique of achieving semi-permanent results of straightening and smoothing was introduced by Brazilian hair stylists using solutions that contained formaldehyde in amounts from 0.2-1.5%, to reduce curl, with longevity of about four to six shampoos. A technique known as “escova progressiva,” where the hair was shampooed several times with high pH shampoos of about a pH of 8.5 to swell the hair, and then a “defrizz lotion” containing the formaldehyde and thermal protectors was applied on the hair and processed for 20-30 minutes. The hair was then blow dried and flat ironed. The results from this Brazilian process resulted in temporarily straight, silky, shiny and smooth hair. In order to attain semi-permanent results lasting beyond two to three shampoos, this process required weekly repeat applications.
Recently, several products have entered the market labeled as “keratin treatments.” These products have one or more keratin crosslinkers, solubilized keratin protein fractions, emollients, surfactants/emulsifiers, and preservatives. The keratin crosslinkers include monoaldehydes, dialdehydes and polyaldehydes at concentrations of 2% to 10%. The chemical crosslinking and hardening of the proteins with the aldehydes is due to the Maillard reaction. The monoaldehydes are referred to as formol, methanal, or acetaldehyde. These aldehyde-based keratin treatment products have many disadvantages. The major disadvantage with the aldehyde products is their toxicological profiles, creating safety and health concerns.
Formaldehyde, also known as “formol,” “methanal,” or “methylene glycol,” is a suspected carcinogen. Formaldehyde can cause contact dermatitis. Some hair stylists have become ill from repeated exposure to these hair treatments.
Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling and hazardous chemical that is found in hair smoothing treatments, including the Brazilian Blowout®, owned by Crème De Le Crem Inc. of West Hollywood, Calif. The Brazilian Blowout is regarded as being a more effective and less time-consuming choice than other hair-straightening methods, including conventional relaxers, Japanese thermal processing or keratin based treatments.
In 2011, the Brazilian Blowout has faced warnings and investigations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for mislabeling its products as “formaldehyde free,” when in fact their products contain methylene glycol, a liquid form of the chemical that emits formaldehyde gas when heated. Thus, salon workers and users of the product are exposed to formaldehyde during the entire hair straightening process (typically lasting two hours), especially during some of the key steps of the process, such as blow drying and flat ironing.
Formaldehyde can cause immediate reactions to the immune system, and it is a cancer hazard. It is listed as a human carcinogen in the 12th Report on Carcinogens published by the National Toxicology Program. Exposure to formaldehyde can be highly irritating to the eye, nose and throat, which can cause coughing and sneezing. Formaldehyde can cause severe allergic reactions of the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, and long term exposure to low levels in the air can cause asthma-like respiratory problems and skin irritations such as dermatitis and itching. In women, exposure to formaldehyde can also cause menstrual disorders.
If hair salons do choose to use the hair straightening treatments that contain formaldehyde, they must comply with strict requirements set out in OSHA's formaldehyde standard, which sets a permissible exposure limit for formaldehyde in the workplace at 0.75 parts of formaldehyde per million parts of air (0.75 ppm). Furthermore, the standard requires that employers test the air to find out the level of formaldehyde present in the air when the product is being used.
The difficulty and costs of complying with standards for formaldehyde places a significant burden on salon owners who choose to use hair smoothing products that contain or emit formaldehyde. Due to the health concerns of using hair straightening products that contain formaldehyde, some salons have stopped offering the Brazilian Blowout treatment, at the cost of losing customers.
Products containing more than 0.10% formaldehyde are prohibited in the marketplaces of several countries. Since these products are unstable, they are formulated with a large excess of formaldehyde exceeding the permissible level. At levels of less than 2% formaldehyde, limited crosslinking and polymerization occurs on hair with some level of curl relaxation with shiny and better fiber alignment shown as frizz reduction. The curl reversion is almost quantitative within two or three shampoos, but the cuticular attributes have a few more shampoos of longevity. At higher concentrations of formaldehyde (4-8%), high crosslinking and fast rates of polymerization occur with a discernable curl reduction of hair. Also, at these high levels, there is no need for a waiting period of 72 hours, and hair can be shampooed on the same or next day.
Even though the hair appears shiny and healthy, the formaldehyde polymerization seals the cuticle and traps some of the formula agents into the hair shaft or cortex, making the hair unhealthy. This is due to the water displacement and changes to the melanin, cortical cells, and matrix of hair. Over time, the changes in the cortical cells and microfilaments are irreversible and result in hair damage. Repeat treatments can amplify this damage, which results in fiber failure and hair breakage.
The present inventors have unexpectedly discovered that the application of an inorganic fluoride, such as a sodium fluoride, is a unique non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, product that can be used to straighten, smooth, defrizz or curl hair. It is unexpected since sodium fluoride has never been associated with hair care and nothing found in the literature would suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art the use of such an inorganic fluoride in hair care formulation for the purpose of straightening, smoothing, defrizzing, or curling hair. Moreover, the use of sodium fluoride, as an inorganic salt, in a hair care product ingredient is completely counterintuitive. That is, one would typically avoid the use of inorganic salts generally in hair care formulations, since these salts are known to cause build-up on the hair and many hair cleansing products (e.g., chelating shampoos) are formulated to remove inorganic salts from the hair rather than add such salts to the hair.